After a hard-hitting year for education, well-being has never been more paramount. The pandemic has brought a great number of mental health challenges for our learners: two years of disrupted schooling and long stretches of lockdown.
So, what can you do to make it clear to everyone that their wellbeing is important and a priority?
There are 5 pillars of wellbeing that can help you and your school: Physical, Mental, Emotional, Social, and Spiritual. Here are 5 high-impact tips to support you in building these pillars in your classroom.
Create Good Relationships
Creating good relationships improves your mental health not just in the classroom but outside as well. Encouraging your team and students to be kind and care for one another WILL ensure a more positive environment is created. Something as simple as a handshake or a high five or an elbow touch (keeping in line with covid restrictions of course…)
Keep Active
Physical activity is part of a normal school day; however, you can ramp up the activity in your classroom. Start your class with 5-minute warm-up exercises to get everyone on their feet! This keeps everyone alert and allows them to interact with others around them. Exercise releases endorphins in your brain, this triggers a positive feeling in the body that reduces the perception of pain.
Introduce Generosity
This may be part of your school mantra already, in which case, great! If not, have you thought about whether your students know when generosity is needed? Set up a few role-play activities that show when it is needed and when it can really help others. A simple kind act could make someone’s day.
Pay Attention
Teachers at all levels are overworked and extremely tired. Keeping tabs on every single student and monitoring their behaviour is impossible with the little time teachers have. Can we teach our students to do the same? Teach your learners to recognise the signs of someone struggling. Encourage proactive empathy among your students and across your school team.
Continue Your Learning Journey
Learning new skills gives value and purpose. It can create a feeling of pride and a sense of achievement once the new skill has been accomplished. Learning is of course, central throughout each and every school, however, Sadhguru, an Indian yogi and author, poses that education is no longer about learning and is more focused on memory rather than curiosity. Therefore, if we are in a state of suffering, we don’t know how to solve this within our minds, and this affects the way we teach and learn.
You can learn more about the conscious and unconscious mind in our webinar with Sadhguru this Thursday at 4pm. Make sure you have the best guidance to create a successful well-being environment in your school.
